


I'm a fire, I'll keep your brittle heart warm

by lovelacegsl



Category: Little Women (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:55:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26986303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelacegsl/pseuds/lovelacegsl
Summary: Modern Setting!He wonders if somehow he managed to misunderstand her, that maybe he was just her summer fun like he first had intended her to beAmy accompanies her cousin to Italy for the summer and for the better or worse Laurie is there
Relationships: Theodore Laurence/Amy March
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	I'm a fire, I'll keep your brittle heart warm

It was the beggining of summer and he was 23 when he first met her

She had been sitting in a narrow corridor in Via Dei Tribunali eating pizza accompanied with another girl, talking and laughing but occasionally stealing glances towards where he was sitting, he had smiled at her until the other girl got exasperated and left motioning him to go to her

“Amy March,” She says, she has a fruity voice that was pleasant to his ears, she had golden hair that reached just below her shoulders and had the prettiest green eyes he'd ever seen, soft skin and sharp jawline

“Theodore Laurence, but everyone calls me Laurie,” She had smiled, those blinding smiles that you only encountered once in twenty lifetimes, she was a golden-glow thing. How she laughed, how easy she was to talk to. Her friend doesn't return until 2 hours later 

For once he's glad he left Vienna for the summer and not because of his parents but because of the beauty sitting in front of him, she tells him she's from Massachusetts, and that her friend is actually her cousin and she's accompanying her family there for the summer 

She gives him her phone number and the promise to meet again, same place, same time, tomorrow, she says and he can only agree

He always had a weakness for pretty girls, after a week of meetings in the same place, walking around and talking about everything and nothing she starts opening up a little

First he's able to get out of her her passion, art. She shows him a little bit of her sketches and paintings and he's surprised, they look like they could be in old museums, castles or mansions 

“I was expecting white girls smearing period blood, or something,” Laurie tells her as he slides down her posts in the instagram where she posts her art, she had 108k followers and he can only give her his respect. She laughed and took her phone back, bumping her shoulder against his 

So he tells her about his dream now crushed of being a famous composer and she sympathizes with him since both their form of art are out of fashion, there's no way they could get famous because of their art

He tells her that he hates his future, that he's only studying accounting because his father pressured him to, she tells him she's studying bussines management in hope of opening her own art gallery even though when she talks about that dream she sounds sad, so pessimistic 

Her cousin is mean to him he only guessed it was because of jealously, Flo Carol, they're nothing alike, Laurie thought as he watched them walking away after a day of walking around in a piazza

Amy is lifeful and colorful, so vibrant and bold and Flo was as well, but she was sarcastic and her humor is dark nothing like his 

“Flo doesn't like me, does she?” Laurie asked Amy once he had managed to whisk her away from her cousin and they sat eating snowcones 

“No, she does, actually. It's not your fault, she's been kind of moody,” Amy said and he finds out later that she had received a photo of her boyfriend, now ex boyfriend, dancing and kissing with another girl

Amy talks a lot, he finds out. He doesn't mind, that was his kind of people. She talks about her life in America and her friends and about her sisters as well

Meg, Jo and Beth. Meg is the sweetest, the most beautiful, she says and he could only disagree even though he doesn't know her sisters, the lovesick one, the one who got married to a poor teacher and now is pregnant with twins

Jo is the writer, the most exasperating one, she says with a mischievous smile that only tells him that that's not true, Amy even shows him some of Jo's published short stories in the Atlantic

When she talks of them she's vibrant and bold, smiling and laughing like nothing else makes her happier, but with Beth she's still vibrant and bold but she's sad as well and he wonders why until she tells him without even asking

“She passed away two years ago,” She said while they sat in a bench, Laurie doesn't even think of putting his arm around her shoulder but she shifts closer to him, closer than she'd ever been before and he doesn't even bother to pull away

“I'm sorry,” Was the only thing he could say for he hadn't felt that kind of pain yet 

So he tells her about his life, of his friends and that he has no siblings. That he was born because of an affair but that his parents were still together till that very day, he's careful not to tell her about how his grandfather hates him and her mother though 

She gives him a fluttering feeling when their hands brush by mere accident, they're walking through an old museum and he glances towards her to see if it shifted things, she only smiles at him over her shoulder

He likes spending time with her and more often than not they pull all nighters talking on the phone, he'd known her for all two weeks but he knows more of her than he's known of all his friends in Vienna and she of him as well, he likes it and he wonders if he opens up to her because he knows she'll leave or because he needed to open up to someone

All his life has been this big bottle of emotions, his boy friends don't care about feelings and his girl friends in Vienna are nosy and ask too much about his life it takes away all his will to actually tell them things

Amy feels so welcoming to him and even though he had expected to take her to bed once and forget about her like he always did there was something about her that didn't let him do that

One day they hung around in the backyard of the place they were staying, their legs dangling inside the pool while Flo swimmed and Amy used her phone 

“Flo,” She said suddenly and her cousin that had been very far away, she swimmed towards her and Amy showed her the phone, Flo laughed out loud throwing her head back 

“What is it?” Laurie asked looking between the cousins, Amy's face was beet red 

“Amy's ex liked her instagram post from 6 weeks ago,” Flo said squinting at the phone, he smirked because of course Amy would be the ex someone just couldn't forget, he wondered if he was going to be one of those people that entered her life and that she threw away like they were nothing 

“Show me the photo,” Laurie asked and Amy passed him the phone, it was a selfie he had saw once he stalked her personal instagram, luckily for him no like had slipped. She was smiling, her hair in a high ponytail with a blue ribbon “Make it your profile picture,” He said once he passed her the phone 

She gaped at him and then at her phone and then back at him “That is so evil,” She grinned at him and shook her head “I love it,” He watched as her nimble fingers changed the photo 

She was the most innocent thing he'd done with a girl, he muses over dinner with his parents pretending to be a doting son. 23 years old and his parents still took him to that old villa every summer, it made him feel like a teenager even though Amy already makes him feel like a randy teenager

He sneaks his phone out of his pants when he felt it vibrating to find a video of Flo drunk singing to ‘we didn't start the fire,’ He pursues his lips in an attempt to keep from laughing

“Well who is it?” His mother asked and he looked up to find both his parents in front of him staring intently at him, he turned off his phone and placed it between his thighs

“Who is who?” Laurie asked trying to appear naive looking between both of his parents 

“This mysterious person you're meeting everyday,” His father asked lifting an eyebrow and Laurie felt his own cheeks burning up, he looked down to hide it and took a big bite of his chicken to avoid answering

For his luck they both left the topic aside for he himself he didn't knew what she was to him, a friend? Yes a friend but he hoped to be more, a part of him really longed to try, so after the first month together they both sit at the beach as she tells him that one time she had been caught in a rip current and at that moment she was sure that she was going to die

She says that at one point she stopped fighting and when she stopped fighting the ocean threw her away at the sand

“Why did you stop fighting?” Laurie asked a bit lost at her tale, she was hugging her knees as she stared at the ocean, he laid back in his elbows watching her back clad in a loose tank top, her toes digging the sand

“Every time I tried to swim it felt like it was pushing me further and further, I was sure I was going to die,” Amy said in a small voice and he fought the urge to trace the knobs of her spine

“Well, I'm glad you didn't,” She smiled back at him and returned her gaze to the ocean “Does that mean that since then, you haven't entered the ocean?” She shook her head, that was a long time, they both stayed in a comfortable silent watching the ocasional families and couples

“Look,” Amy said once the sun was disappearing, he moved to sit beside her and looked curiously at the ocean, then at the families around not finding anything interesting

“Look what?” 

“The green flash. When the sun goes down, just as it dissapears you'll se a flash of green light,” She explained and he looked at the ocean curiously “Not a lot know of this, consider yourself lucky,” Amy said and he smiled

“I don't see anything though,” Laurie said, she turned to look at him, exasperation dripping off her posture and gaze

“Just wait for it. They say that once you look at it you can never go wrong in the matters of the heart,” He smiled because even if she tried to hide it she was such a sappy romantic, she turned to look at it once again

He teared his gaze from her side profile and hugged his knees as well, just as the sun disappeared the sky flashed green. He gasped and she giggled beside him

“It's so pretty, isn't it? I've paint it a dozen times and my family always think I'm crazy,” Amy said but he wasn't paying attention he was still staring at the sea dazed at what he just saw, it gave him a small fluttery feeling in his chest

𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 He mused the words over and over until he mustered all the courage he needed

He exhaled slowly and cupped her cheek and turned her face to him, he could see the hues of gold in her green irises. She seemed surprised for a moment and then relaxed, that gave him a small thread of courage and hope, her eyelashes fluttered close when he leaned closer and their noses brushed

He kissed her, it was soft at first and then her hand flew to his wrist and squeezed it, he dared to open her lips and they fell into a gentle rhythm, she tasted of cherry lipstick

He slid his hand from her jaw to her hair and stroked it as he had been wishing to, it was so sliky, this was the first kiss he had ever given that was so... intimate, that was the only way he could describe it

Never before he had felt so cared for, so contained in someone else's affection and it frightened him. He felt drunk on her body, on her caring hands and arms 

“You're so beautiful,” He heard himself say between kisses and felt her smile against his lips before her hand sneaked to his hair and kissed him deeply, her tongue sneaking past his lips and he moaned against his will, his other hand came to rest on the softness of her waist

She pulled back panting and laughed, she laughed and pulled back from his hands and he felt bereft, was this a game for her? It probably was, he stared at her face, when her face often made him swoon now it annoyed him

Suddenly she stopped her laughing and rested her head against his shoulder “What was so funny?” He asked cautiously and she looked up at him with her eyes

“Sorry, Flo and I were betting when you were going to dare to kiss and I won,” He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder

“You're welcome then, what did you win? Can you share it with me?” Laurie asked, his other hand tracing patterns against her thigh, she giggled and kissed his cheek

“Nothing at all, we just thought you were taking too long,” This time he was the one to laugh and shake his head

“Did I?”

“A month Laurence, a month,” He grinned and kissed her temple feeling like he was floating and only her hand resting on his forearm kept him anchored to earth

“Well I'm sorry then,” He pinched her thigh just because he could now, she yelped and slapped his hand away. He didn't pulled away though, his hand covered her thigh and squeezed, she sighed and pulled away to fully look at him

“I like your nose,” Amy said and traced it with her finger, he never got a compliment on his nose before and it made him blush like a teenage boy under her finger, he took her wrist and kissed the finger that had been stroking his nose

Dates and kisses under the moonlight were for other people but not him, never him. But here he was, sitting in the beach with the prettiest girl he'd ever seen kissing him so deeply and careful at the same time 

After that he's sure he's never felt that way before, for anyone else and it frightens him so much and it made him want to stay with her all the time

He sits in the couch of his living room examinating a picture Amy just posted in her Instagram for her works, it was a couple kissing under the green flash. He smiled like a loon zooming on the painting

“That is good, whose is it?” Her mother asked from behind him 

“Jesus Christ!” He screamed and his phone fell from his hands, he panted and looked for the phone “The mysterious person I'm seeing,” He answered turning to look at his mom standing behind him with an amused look

“Let me see,” His mother asked taking his phone before he could protest “Huh, the green flash, that's nice,” She said squeenting her eyes at the phone and tossing the phone in his direction again

“Is it a he or a she?” She asked and he rolled his eyes 

“Is a she,” She nodded and studied his face, tilted her head to a side and took a deep breath coming to sit beside him 

“Well, when can I meet her?” He lifted his eyebrows at her and at that moment he hated ever being so close to his parents

“You never want to meet any of the girls I'm seeing,” Laurie complained and his mother laughed out loud shaking her head

“I know my son, nobody makes you blush like she does,” He groaned and covered his face with both his hands, was he that obvious? 

“She's going to leave anyways,” He shrugged and let his hands fall to his lap, it was the first time he'd say something he always knew and it sting but he's young, he'll get over it

“Where is she from?”

“Massachusetts,” He leaned completely on the couch and stared at the ceiling

“I still want to meet her, bring her for dinner. Tonight,” His mother said and left before he could say anything about it, what if that scared her away? What if they were going too fast when they weren't even going to last? The thought made his chest hurt

But it didn't happened, it didn't scared her away. She was there at the time he sent her looking nervous, she was wearing a baby blue dress that reached her knees and had transparent long sleeves

“Hey there Juliet,” She passed him the bottle of wine she brought and rolled her eyes, even if she was wearing nude heels she was still a head shorter than him 

“You do know how that story ends right?”

“Ophelia?” She shook her head and he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips, lingering for a moment “How did they let you come?” He asked looking around waiting for Flo to come and scare him as she usually did

“I've no idea,” He moved aside to let her step inside, he watched as she looked around the place “This place is nice,”

“Thanks,” His mother said and she turned around to see her standing in the arc of the kitchen, Laurie looked between them and her eyes were wide open, his mother smiled “You're the mysterious person, yes?” She asked walking towards Amy, Amy nodded and offered her hand and he was surprised when his mom shook it

“Amy March,” His mother smiled and he felt so utterly exposed, no other girl he'd ever seen before had met his parents

And then his father is there and she looks even more nervous and he wants to die for putting her through that

“Where are you from?” His father asks her once they're settled in the table, Amy covers her mouth and swallow

“Concord in Massachusetts,” His father leans against his chair and looks at her for a long moment

“Concord,” He whispers and taps his finger against the table and even if he couldn't see, Laurie was sure his feet was banging against the floor 

“What's wrong with Concord?” Laurie asked confused looking between his mother and father, they share a look and then he gets it. Where his grandfather lives, shit, he knew he lived in Massachusetts but there's a lot of places in there, Amy looks at him, question dancing in her green eyes “My grandfather lives there, I think,” Laurie said and she nodded and then her eyes widened

“James Laurence?” She asks in a small voice and his father looks at her and blinks multiple times and then nods “He lives in front of my house,” She explains in a shy voice 

“Really?” His father asks and she nods, her hand coming up to to fidget with the collar of her dress “How is he?” He asked carefully and he saw his mom tensing up 

“I haven't seen him in a while, the last time he came over for dinner was...february, I think. He's very kind, he has helped my family a lot,” Amy says quietly still confused why his father would ask about his own father 

The rest of the dinner was easier, luckily. As if he had brought only a friend over, his parents dropped the topic and everything else was easier 

“My grandfather... I don't know him. He got mad because my father moved here to be with my mom, he hates my mom and probably hates me, too,” Laurie explained once they stood outside in the porch 

“He was very close with Beth, she would visit his house and play the piano for him,” Amy confessed in a low voice looking ahead of her, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, she didn't cry but she did wrapped her arms around his waist “Why don't you get in contact with him?” She asked after a while, after she ordered the taxi

“I don't have his phone, I don't even know if he would answer,” He moved his hand to her shoulder to her waist and stroked, moving his other hand to her chin and kissed her soundly, she responded with equal fervor that made him smile 

He groaned when she bit his lower lip and then she pulled away with a mischievous smile and then her taxi arrived 

At night she sent him a single contact over whatsapp that said Mr. Laurence, he tapped his phone, sighed and turned off his phone

Every day with her felt like a romantic film, one he had never seen before, one he doesn't know how it works or how it would end. They would walk around the city eating snowcones or gelato holding hands, Amy usually holding Laurie's hand and the other holding Flo's and after a while he didn't mind anymore

‘She's my best friend, actually,’ She'd said once they waited for Flo outside a bathroom, he smiled because he couldn't show how jealous he was 

“You should take me home,” Amy whispered one time they were hiding in a small corner of a street, her back pressed against a concrete wall, his thigh between her legs and his face burrowed in her neck. This was the farest they've ever gone and he feels ecstatic

“Yeah?” She nodded and gasped when his palm palmed her breast, arched her back into him, into his touch “I can't,” She deflated and dropped her back against the wall “My parents are there.”

“Alright,” Amy whispered and used her hands to push him away

“They'll be gone though, the next weekend. They have a party in Florence, they invited me but I can stay,” Amy looked up at him and nodded kissing him again 

She arrived at his parents house that weekend at 3 pm like he told her. They didn't even attempted to make small talk, they've known each other for two months and this was the first time they've done it but when she opens her legs to him it feels like they've done this eons of times 

She was beautiful, so beautiful. Inside and out, her cheeks were flushed as he moved on top of her, accepting when she wanted to be on top and moving in tandem with her 

Once they're done they lay together, not cuddling but together, she smiled sleepily at him, her finger strokes his face, his lips, his nose, his eyebrows 

The covers were up to her waist as she lay on her stomach, one finger stroked the moles on her back and then his mouth followed his own fingers, she kissed him soundly still laying on her stomach, he climbed behind her and she was already arching her back for him, she moaned loudly when he entered her again whispering sweet nothings in her ear 

“𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑖 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖 𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑙 𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑜”   
“𝐻𝑎𝑖 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑜 𝑐𝑢𝑜𝑟𝑒”  
“𝑇𝑢 𝑚𝑖 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑖”

After that weekend he doesn't see her much anymore, they talk on the phone but she claimed that something was wrong with Flo and that she has to stay with her, he has an ugly feeling in his stomach like it was already over, he had given it all to her and she wanted it to be over before she even left! 

He felt a thrill of excitement and happiness when she asked to hang out, she gives him a wooven bracelet and hugs him tighter than she'd ever hugged him he feels scared they might cut their trip and go back earlier

But that doesn't happen, either. He once thought that he only needed a stumble in the sheets with Amy to get rid of the sickening compulsion he felt towards her but that plan had backfired spectacularly, he only wanted her more and more

He liked the way her breath caught in her throat when he kissed it, or how she bit her lips when his fingers would work on her clitoris, how she would boldly hold his face close to her while her tongue explored his mouth, how her sharp intake of breaths would make her chest flush

They never agreed on any labels so he doesn't know what to call her in front of his friends when they attend bars or parties though he does kiss her while they danced very close, how after that she would slam him against a wall and kiss him deeply, he didn't had any complain about it though

One day he lays in his bed using his phone, his legs crossed until he heard a ‘Hello, darling’ and a ‘He's in his room’ He stands up and opens the door to see Amy walking upstairs

“Hey! I didn't knew you were coming,” Laurie said with a smile, she smiled tightly back at him

“I missed you, handsome,” Amy said though her voice sounded strained, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close, he stroked her hair 

“Is everything okay?” Laurie asked once she stayed in the embrace longer than she usually did, her face burrowed in his chest she shook her head and looked up at him 

“I'm going back tomorrow,” She said in a small voice, he felt his heart drop to his knees before it flew back up again and started to beat wildly against his chest and ribs, like a hummingbird beating its wings violently

“What? Tomorrow?” She nodded with an incredible sad expression that probably mirrored his own

“Sorry I didn't told you before,” He looked away at the door “I guess this is it, then?” She asked and pulled back completely from his arms, he knew it was bout to happen but he didn't thought it would hurt this much, his whole body felt numb 

“I guess. Will you call?” She refused to meet his eyes, her eyes focused on his chest

“Do you want that?” Amy asked and he nodded. She was his friend after all, she knew more things that he'd told anyone ever “Then of course I will,” She nodded and stood on her toes and kissed his cheek “Bye, Laurie,” Laurie nodded unable to talk, he heard the door closing softly 

He collapsed in his bed now that she was gone there was no use to try to hide the tears, he stared at the ceiling as he felt the tears falling from his eyes

He didn't knew much about love but whenever he heard the word an image of Amy smiling at him over her shoulder would pop up, and if that what love was he realized he didn't liked much what came afterwards

He started to wonder what would've happened if he hadn't talked to her. What if he just straight up stood and left her alone at that stupid table, he rubbed his forehead and sobbed until he felt soft arms surrounding him 

“Everyday will get better.” 

***

They promised to talk once a week, so they tried. They really did try but the time difference and their schedule didn't helped them much

She graduated college at the top of her class and he had congratulated her over the phone, she even got a job at the government in the arts and culture department, she said, in New Haven an hour away from her family

“Tell me, how did you do it?” Laurie asked his father once over skype, he had lifted an eyebrow at him “Rearrange your life, to be with mom,” He gave him an all knowing look

“Is it worth it?” Was the only thing he asked and Laurie answered with something he's known for quite some time

“It is.”

“I can't tell you not to do it, that would make me an hypocrite. I can only wish you the best of luck.” 

So he visits her at the end of summer, he takes a plane to New Haven, the first stop is his hotel and he spends two days sleeping trying to get used to the time difference

They arrange a date in a coffee shop she sent him, she almost dropped everything when she saw him walking through the door to hug him, he felt so happy he could've cried right there and then

“Is it dumb to say that I missed you?” Amy asked him as she stirred her coffee with a wooden stir, a cinnamon roll laying beside her cup of coffee

“No, I missed you too,” Laurie answered her with a soft smile, they talk about mundane things and once they're done with their coffee she takes him to city hall to show him her office and then shows him her place

Is a nice apartment, fancier than he had expected, gray walls and soft couches and big TV “Are you still with that Fred guy?” He asked her as he sat in a corner of her couch and she sat on the other

“No,” She answered shaking her head, a small smile playing about her face

“Why not? I liked him,” Laurie lied, her hair had grown so much and she had a sort of matureness to her now with her dark blue suit

“Yeah... I just couldn't,” She trailed off looking at the floor and shaking her head “I just couldn't stand his face,” Amy admitted making him laugh

“I tried dating, you know,” He said once he sobered up and she turned to look at him with question “I tried with Elizabeth, I did try, and then there was another girl named Lola,” Laurie continued and she crossed her arms in front of her chest licking her lower lip “There were another girls too, they never worked for longer than two weeks though, I worked so hard trying to find out why and everytime I got the same answer.”

“And what was the answer?” She asked quietly

“You,” Her gaze dropped to the floor and he leaned over her “Everytime I was with them, in any way, I could only thing of you, whenever I kissed someone I was brought back to that day at the beach, every day I looked for that green flash,” He said truthfully, Lola's waist was rough and with tattoos not as soft as Amy's and he couldn't help but think of her whenever he was with anyone else

“Laurie...” She began and looked at him, her eyes were damp and his gaze was heavy on her lips

“Tell me, tell me you want me and I won't evee leave, tell me,” Laurie pleaded, desperation dripping off his voice and she stared at him with troubled eyes and for a long moment

He wonders if somehow he managed to misunderstand her, that maybe he was just her summer fun like he first had intended her to be, he opened his lips when she was silent for longer than needed 

“I want you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I wrote this because I was bored and missed these two, tell me what you think!


End file.
